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Hosepipe Ban: Current Situation

November 19th 2023

There are currently no hosepipe bans in the UK.

The hosepipe ban that lasted over a year in the South West Water region has now ended.

The hosepipe ban in the South East Water covering the Kent and Sussex regions has now ended (05/08/23).

The hosepipe ban in the Yorkshire Water region has now ended (06/12/22).

The hosepipe ban in parts of the Welsh Water region has now ended (25/10/2022).

The hosepipe ban throughout Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has now ended (04/11/2022).

The hosepipe in the Thames Water region has now ended (22/11/2022).

The hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex has now ended (30/11/2022).

The hosepipe ban in the Yorkshire Water region has now ended (06/12/22).

We will update this page as and when changes occur. Please also see our Latest News and Home pages for more information.

624 replies on “Hosepipe Ban: Current Situation”

I must be missing something but I thought that water companies were meant to arrange compensation in the event of hosepipe bans. I am in SE Water’s region and the upcoming ban is not for a lack of water but rather their failure to process enough of it.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/29/section/36
‘A water undertaker which issues a prohibition must make arrangements for a reasonable reduction of charges which are made in respect of prohibited uses (including arrangements for repayment or credit where charges are paid in advance).’

I have a sub meter on my outside tap and when I wash the car using the jet wash it uses 25 litres plus a 10 litre bucket of soapy water, so 35 litres in total. When I wash the car using 10 litre buckets it takes 7-9 buckets to wash and rinse, totaling up to 90 litres. Similar with washing out the wheelie bins; 5-10 litres with the jet wash but 20+ litres using buckets. My water usage and therefore my water bill has sky rocketed since the hose pipe ban. It makes no sense to be using buckets of water when an efficient high pressure jet wash with precision spray uses so much less.

I 100% agree with this. My water bill has hit the roof. The only thing I have done different is use buckets of water to wash things such as the car. Most hoses these days have triggers / guns so can be used sensibly without a constant running of wasted water

We live in Torbay and come under the biggest culprit for water wastage S. W. W. we have rain for 6 weeks so how on earth can we be on a hosepipe ban until December.

So, you’re washing your car knowingly using a method that uses more water during hosepipe bans, and it’s the system that’s to blame? Do you need to be spoon-fed common sense?

As a disabled person, I now have to carry and lift several buckets of water to clean out by bins rather than presumably using less water just to quickly hose them down. There need to be reasonable exceptions for the disabled and the elderly who might physically struggle.

There are. If you are disabled or elderly and infirm (like me), then you just have to inform the relevant water authority and they will exempt you.

So during a hosepipe ban it is illegal for domestic users to use a hosepipe to water their personal Vegetable and Fruit Crops but they can legally use a hosepipe to fill their Hot Tub ? …

Insanity

It depends on your water company’s definition of the current ban. Things vary. But in most cases it’s any domestic use that doesn’t pertain to business. There is also be a clause that says “drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use” as it does for Yorkshire water!

If these VERY rich executives used some of their obscene bonuses to repair the massive leaks that are throughout the country perhaps they’d have sufficient water instead of imposing this ban.

Do some research and you will find that they are starving people across the World! 105 food processing /fertiliser plants have mysteriously burn down since January in the USA alone.

Imagine the tons of water it will take to make insects into food….indeed, it may result in greater lack of water, not to mention lack of nutrition. And then a great many of us will die.

That is, of course, what the WEF, Schwab-Gates, et al, are planning…but wait, I forget Chuck the Turd; the king of this benighted land is a globalist; his lack of moral sense is apparently approved of by the state church and its execrable leader, Justin Welby (about whom his spiritual adviser early on said he should get nowhere near Canterbury, so shoddy was his theology)

As for me, I intend to ignore the hosepipe ban, pure and simple. If the councils in Cornwall had not been so greedy as to build far too many homes–or should I say second homes?–there would probably be no problem despite the decrepit condition of the pipes used by the local water systems. So they can sing for it. If they want to fine me, they can do that. But it will simply cause me to resurrect the profession from which I retired several years ago: Journalism. And I’ll be quite happy to broadcast all their horse hockey in any and all publications I can reach.

Today some 585 million m3 of water per year are desalinated in the State of Israel. The Soreq plant provides 150 million m3 per year, the Hadera plant 127 million, the Ashkelon plant 118 million, the Palmachim plant 90 million, and the Ashdod plant 100 million.
Our lot have just been fiddling whilst Rome (sun)barns.

Have you looked at how much carbon dioxide is produced by the desalination plants? I guess that in Israel it may all be done by solar heating but I doubt it. Just bear in mind that the current problems are all caused by global warming, most from CO2 and Methane in the atmosphere. If we wanted to desalinate water in the UK it would all be done by burning fossil fuels.

Thank you. It’s important that we join the dots.
Whilst individual actions have a role to play, it’s the water company’s failure to ensure pipes are properly maintained that makes this such a big issue. They are too busy making profits.

Don’t talk a load of rubbish. The “current problems” are nothing to do with “global warming” and climates – it’s called weather. We have had worse periods of droughts before but of course that doesn’t fit the leftist eco emergency group think. The much fabled IPCC report (the actual one, not the political summary one) does not attribute any recent extreme weather events down to climate change.

The change in weather patterns is due to a rise in temperatures due to climate change!

Global warming started as our planet came out of the Little Ice Age, so about 1800-1850. warming since then has been good; I wouldn’t want winter nights to be 2C colder on average.
CO2 is plant food; commercial greenhouses enrich their growing areas to double the natural concentration, or more.
Methane, as you know, is measured in parts per billion, [so like looking for all [3] men over seven feet, two inches tall in London’s teeming millions, if you like] and in real life its effect on warming is completely covered by water vapour. about 70% of our planet is covered with water – so we can’t get away from that….

It’s a good idea for hot countries but a huge waste of money for a country that has not stopped raining for the last six weeks….these plants cost billions….only to be sat doing nothing for 10 months of the year.

Desalinisation is very expensive. Thames Water has a plant for emergency use but they decommissioned it a couple of years ago. They also sold off 5 reservoirs for housing on privatisation. The unpalatable truth is, any industry that has to take a long term view should be in public ownership. The profit motive encourages short term thinking and ensures long term disasters.

That can be done but is expensive without hot sun. To the moderator: Why do you cancel every ordinary comment I make. What are you afraid of? My comments are not rude or accusing. I mentioned global warming once. It appears that a strong cancel culture is working here. Legitimate comments should be okay. Not everybody will think the same as you. We still partially live in a free country. I honestly don’t understand your fear. We musn’t be afraid of truth. I await to be cancelled again to prove my point. At least to me. Nobody else will know which suits your cancelling antics. My eyes have been opened.

We don’t cancel comments Tony and fully welcome all opinions. There has been a server issue for the last couple of days and that’s slowed down the process of moderation. Apologies, it’s fixed now.

Expensive to do. Malta does it as there is little fresh water or rain. We need to use grey water and deserve our drinking water for drinking and cooking. Using quality water to flush your loo or water your garden is wasteful

If we all use hosepipes the water will evaporate into the atmosphere and fill the clouds with moisture and cause it to rain. Ta da.

We shouldn’t need a hosepipe ban in 2022! There is so much waste of water going on. Just driven past my local Nissan dealership and there’s a man out there hosing down all the cars – totally unnecessary. I’d say the same about gardens. It’s all modern vanity that drives stupid human decisions like these. I read this morning that crops are dying in fields due to lack of water. Which is more important, a shiny car and pretty lawn, or food on the table?

So you are actually saying that the man hiding down cars is wasting water, and people watering their garden with a hosepipe are wasting water. therefore you are supporting a hosepipe ban? What else do you use a hosepipe for?

I’m saying that if people used water more carefully we wouldn’t need a hosepipe ban. Obviously we do now need one.

People use hosepipes for many things including but not exhaustive to-
* filling up water troughs for animals
* cleaning cars
* filling up paddling pools/hot tubs etc
* Swilling down animal enclosures
* cleaning bird muck off patios etc
* watering fruits/vegetables/plants
* cleaning out wheelie bins
* linked to jet and pressure washers
* building jobs such as getting water to mix concrete etc
* topping up ponds
*Many more besides.
I’m sure depending on who you ask you will get different responses to which are necessary and which are unnecessary. Lots of these things are not hosepipe exclusive! They can be done in other ways.

We build on green and brown belt too often,also most houses don’t have lawns anymore just paved all over.
Too much concrete!

I agree. In Basingstoke they are destroying woods, fields etc. to build houses concrete, houses concrete. What are we doing to this beautiful island? No wonder people need holidays.

It seems ridiculous to have to say this, but there were a few comments saying desalination would help with rising sea levels, so: Desalination will not help mitigate rising sea levels. Any water that you take out of the sea and desalinate for use as drinking water will very quickly run back into the sea after use. Also the amount of water taken out of the sea for use as drinking water would be such a miniscule fraction that it would have no noticeable impact on sea levels, even if we were to then store that water in reservoirs on land.

Further, desalination is a highly energy intensive process, and depending on how that energy is generated (e.g. if its from fossil fuels), the process as a whole could be a contributor to climate change and rising sea levels .

We should plant more trees as it reduces amount of water entering the rivers and it saves the soil. The roots of trees break up the soil so that more water can be absorbed into the soil so less water runs away into the rivers. Trees also provide a natural defence against floods.
This may help to prevent droughts and formation of desert areas.
We buy all our fruits so dont bother to plant any fruits trees in our gardens anymore.

I totally agree with this. I have planted trees as they also provide shelter and help to maintain soil stability

Totally agree with planting of more trees and there should be a limit on how much concrete households can put down. The Councils should enforce the rules and not be so toothless.

Personally, I think they’ve got a bloody cheek raising my 7% and then telling there’s going to be a hosepipe ban and refusing to pay compensation.

You want compensation for the fact we have had next no rain for 8 weeks?
Lets just say the regulator steps in and makes the water companies pay compensation (laughable concept but hey, this is your fantasy). Where does the money come from? The leak fixing budget.. Problem gets worse.
Alternative they charge you 6%more for the next ten years to claw it back…
You realy need to think this stuff through over more than just right here right now…

I just don’t get it. Why in the Uk the autority are not prepared abaut water shortages in case of draughty Is not fair I can not my little garden with my vegetable and plant. When they leaving the piipe bursting in street for days loosing milion of gallons of fresh water. That is not fair That is crazy

I agree. When the rain does come we also need to attenuate the flood flow to capture as much as possible. Plant more trees over the watersheds, put trees, bushes & meanders back into river banks. Say water that arrives at the coast due to heavy rainfall is a failure of capture planning

I’ve had a great crop of apples, plums, blueberries and blackberries from my fruit trees this year, also tomatoes and red peppers. I know lots of gardeners with fruit trees!
I also invested in solar panels years ago and use dishwater to water my plants.
What do you do?

In other words de salination plants are virtuall use less as a back up to domestic o industrial supplies. How ever there is a case that in genuine extreme drought with no tap water available the could be considered as strategic back up to proved drinking water delivered byroad etc transport to domestics and vital e.g. Hospital services.It would be a national disgrace if such a situation came to pass.

Desalination plants can provide water for crops as well as drinking water. A mass pipe network in various parts of the world could help with improved crops, clean water, reduce illness, replenish water in reservoirs. It won’t stop levels at sea rising but it will slow it down while saving lives. Consider crop failures worldwide.

Desalination plants could be powered by tidal power.
We should be using is tidal power not wind to generate electricity (not to be confused with wave power which needs wind).
After all we are an island, and tidal power only stops for a short time when the tide turns, high tide is at different times around the UK so it will not stop everywhere at the same time.
As for rising sea levels, the water could be used for irrigation on farms as well, but it would be replacing the water currently used so would not have much effect on it.
Desalination plants could help clean the sea by filtering out the micro plastics and we would not be drinking water that has been recycled over and over from our waste water as much.

My Husband works in the wind power industry and has been saying this exact same thing for years! Tidal power is the future

Several tidal power schemes have been tried, like the ‘Pelamis’, but the sea is so violent and corrosive that it can destroy pretty much anything. The amount of recoverable power is small and few places are suitable.

Norway has a surplus of electricity due to their high waterfalls which are used to power the elelctricity. They must have a good surplus of water as well. Our solution must be a different one though.

Tidal power would restrict shipping and damage environment. There are modern tidal methods but rather difficult and expensive to install. We don’t have enough sunlight to power desalination plants. We have lived with hosepipe bans for many years.
Leaks are being caused by the dry land so is a current problem. My village has had nearly a dozen leaks in the past month resulting in no water.

The costs of tidal power pail into insignificance when compared to nuclear power. Tidal power almost makes perfect sense. Shipping is restricted by off shore wind, shipping lanes can be managed. However, there are environmental issues with off shore wind, there are nasty affects on the crab and lobster populations due to the electro magnetic radiation from the undersea cables and this would also apply to tidal power also. If anyone was in any doubt that nuclear power is a liability, just look at the current situation in Ukraine. We need to radically reduce energy consumption and the easiest and most cost effective way of doing that is insulation. Rather than subsidise the installation of heatpumps that require insulation to make them effective, insulate houses and reduce gas and electricity consumption.

Totally agree. Was told by a friend of mine from John’s Hopkins that the tidal power machines are much better than wind power. Plus not as ugly. If you power desalination by green energy it is well worth it. It is irrelevant really for sea levels but people, crops and animals need water. Living on an island with our technology we should never run out of drinking water.

Just dump the excess water in space

This idea is trade marked by me don’t even think about stealing it or I will bring the full force of my lawyers down on you! (Once I hire them)

Combine that with Making it international law that every garden has to have a pool filled with sea water.the rising sea levels sorted.
Next problem please

Maria,
Sea levels are rising – but very slowly. Best estimate – the Earth is geoid, and the rise is small, so it’s difficult to measure accurately – is a little over a millimetre a year – one row of bricks in a couple of generations.
There is no acceleration in this rise.
It has been steady – so far as can be measured – since the early Nineteenth Century. I think it will continue to rise at the rate of the thickness of a finger in twenty-five years for the rest of my lifetime, probably, too, for the rest of this century.
Isostatic rebound – after the glaciers left – mean that the island of Great Britain is gently tipping down in the south and east [hence some coats are experiencing coastal erosion, though storms. Perfectly natural – even if devastating for those whose homes are at risk – or lost.

No seas have risen yet. The same beaches are still there. You may get a tidal wave occasionally but most of it is fear mongering to bring about globalism.

We are in the situation because the water companies are not investing in reservoirs / water capture and treatment works causing sewage overspill into rivers at sea
Population of infrastructure increases need to be catered for by the privatised companies not restricted services to the customer

We are an island surrounded by water. We are spending millions on renewable energy but nowhere do I see money money being spent on desalination plants. Just a thought in this current climate of global warming.

I totally agree. I live on Fuerteventura where all of the water is desalinated. And it works very well. If every country reserved drinking water for drinking ONLY, and not for car washing, toilet flushing and plant watering we would be a long way to solving problems. Of course, desalination worldwide would also help with rising sea levels

Yeah just leave the toilet full of shit. Lovely. Just dump your crap on the street, hell chuck it out of the window like the middle ages.

I always think “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s Brown flush it down.”

Duh!! I think what he means is that we should used grey water harvesting where it is not being consumed!!

Seawater flushes away toilet mess and actually disinfects it. I had to live this way in Hong Kong for five months. No great strain.

With so much water around us & with the technology already in place to desalination sea water into drinking water why are they not doing that, this would also lower sea levels

The water companies have been selling off reservoir for the last 10 years.
I know that because I have been interested in buying one, Pugh and co auction site has sold many all different sizes. Nic

Spot on ! Constantly taking up land with houses, build bigger reservoirs !! Like everyone I pay my water rates, I then love my garden and spend alot of money on it, will they compensate me for dead plants ? No,don’t think so !!

Day 5 of no running water in Challock Kent 20/07/22. SEW providing rations of 6 x 2 litres drinking water. A tanker puts water in around midday, but its empty in 1-2hrs.
Not enough water to wash ourselves, cloths, utensils.
No water to flush the toilet.

And find ways to store the water where it won’t evaporate straight away. Maybe we need to return to deep well use

Deep wells only work if the aquifers are refilled – with the low rainfall and the amount of extraction that happens in the UK that isn’t happening

And find ways to store the water where it won’t evaporate straight away. Maybe we need to return to deep well use?

Which verse specifically mentions Kent? We all know that Kent’s full of sinners. That’s why I moved to Devon. No hosepipe ban here yet Q.E.D.

fOR YOUR INTEREST AS WELL AS OTHERS.Use washing up water to flush the loo…pour it into your tank if a low one as a flush does better work than just a bowl of water. Or at least keep it in a bucket for your plants in pots if you have them. Have you ever thought to milk carton bottle catch all that cold water that is wasted coming down the pipe while you wait for the hot to arrive. (I find that it is generally at least 1/2 gallon at the kitchen sink more in the shower) keep it for your water filter/kettle) Do NOT run the tap consistently when brushing teeth, washing hands a la covid!!! There are many more tips like this but many people just cannot be ar**d.

In Hong Kong they put seawater in the water tanks when I was there but a seperate tap for drinking, cleaning teeth etc. It wasn’t too much trouble. I had salt water showers and was very clean. You might need to oil your skin a little. This went on for about five months.

There are no hose pipe bans in Derby but 7Trent have asked people to stop using hose pipes and save water for drinking only but everywhere I look people are filling plastic pools up! We will all suffer!

On our council allotments the council are saying that the National Allotment Society are saying that hosepipes are to be banned completely, and we are to use watering cans, this is fine if you have a shed or greenhouse on the site to catch rain water but even these are not allowed on site so what is our action needed on this as they say they are turning the mains off.

When did the utilities last build a reservoir. They just rely on ,it will rain in a bit, but weather is changing I guess so they need to get their act together to conserbe water which just runs away for fun.

And find ways to store the water where it won’t evaporate straight away. Maybe we need to return to deep well use

Exactly…when they made the brilliant decision to privatize the water company, the newly private, now profit conscious water companies, almost immediately decided to raise the shareholder’s dividends by flogging off 15 reservoirs. This had an immediate impact in several key areas, one was obviously a customer supply issue, less reservoirs unsurprisingly meant less water capacity, two was increased flooding when it rained heavily, as rather than going into these previously much needed, but now gone water sinks / reservoirs, it went into the rivers, many of which couldn’t cope and burst their banks, flooding towns and villages…another side effect was where the land was sold to property developers, many used the land to build houses and so on, which of course, were in the areas where water run off would naturally gravitate towards…and yep, caused more flooding. So, the upshot is, if these greedy water companies had not sold off our reservoirs to entice new investors and shareholders, there would have been significantly less flooding around the country, significantly more water capacity and significantly less people who are unable to run their taps or indeed browbeaten and made to feel guilty (despite the high cost we are paying these vultures) to use their hosepipes and so on…so people shouldn’t fall for the old faithful mantra of ‘climate change’, instead, see the wood for the trees and blame the real culprits…the greedy and incredibly short-sighted water companies who’ve caused the majority of these problems.

Thanks for the information, I didn’t know reservoirs were sold off. I cannot believe the stupidity of the government to allow it. When the population of world is increasing daily and all they do is bleat about global warming. Outrageous!

Utility companies, take note. The public are on to you and your appalling water wastage. Get a grip, you certainly charge enough!
Close to 25% leakage down to you.

Well said: Along with the backing of, The profit from the people party: They keep their monopoly and do what they like with the waste we send them for processing.

My question is: Since when and by what authority; Do Plc’s get to fine its customers, for buying too much of their product?

No ban in Dorset so because I am disabled and unable to carry a watering can I will continue using my house to fill my pond up when levels are too low and water my plants and trees due to the fact I spent money and don’t want them dying. My pond fish need water to survive and I have nowhere for a water butt, plus no rain to fill a water butt anyway, I think I need to do a major water change before any ban comes in for the little bit of way overpriced water I use daily, I don’t bath everyday or shower, I strip wash and wash my hair twice a week so to the water companies stop being greedy selling off our reservoirs and filling your pockets, I’m actually thinking of using these third world water companies as for a few pounds a month they can supply fresh water to villages that don’t have any, I save water by not drinking it by drinking alcohol, what more can I do !!!

I agree, they should have constructed one or two more reservoirs in the UK, instead of wasting public money on HS2. Typical government thinking!

This country’s an absolute joke! How can we have a hosepipe ban after all the rain we had this year?!! Does anyone remember what it was like in February when we got all the floods? Where does all that rain go then?

Do you know how the weather system works in regards to evaporation and condensing? Because it sounds like you don’t.

I do – however I’m struggling with understanding how my Condensing Tumble Dryer works, could you help? You sound like a super expert on most things.

Water companies always asking customers to conserve water whilst they do nothing about leaking water pipes for WEEKS
Their management have no problem triggering loads of cash rather than building more water storage

If a lot of these things are true about water companies then obviously new legislation need to be brought in. I will probably be cancelled by the moderator again as they will be touchy about this but free speech has to take place somewhere.

Can I use the horsepipe to wash my car in hainault ilford as my car is dirty and I have seen other people use it

I need a ASAP AS EWER

thanks
For your soupprt

I get charged 28.56 a year for the water company to dispose of rainwater from the house roof .I now catch that myself and water my garden .you can ask for a refund apparently on e day I will be off grid hopefully.

why is there no law for us to get a proper service from utility companies, to protect our rights as consumers. i live in a small parish in the north west we have a reservoir which was donated by its former owner to the local parishes. when the local water authorities were set up they took the reservoir under their control, it was then sold off as the authority was privatised. the private company now sells our water to Manchester some 130 miles away and imposes bans on us when it has given it all away.
I could write what i really think about united utilities but unfortunately the use of such obscenity on the internet is banned. Did i mention i have served my country in the armed forces and have to sit back and watch money grabbing arseholes run it into the ground.
if you the reader follows the markets could you suggest how much profit the water companies have made over the last 20 years and then suggest why there have been only 2 reservoirs built, whilst the population has gone from 57 million to 61 million.
These companies need to be mad accountable, I read with interest the statement above that water meters will bring down water usage, it also means a future where we could be billed £1 (ish) a litre – the argument being that that is the average price for a bottle of water. George Orwells 1984 watch this space we will end up paying to breath air next.

The law for splashing more on water utilities won’t help. It can make them go bankrupt. The planet is dying. The fire in Europe is eating the forests. More Innovations and better sustainability practices are the only way to protect the planet for future generations. Wars wont help. If you survive them, they leave behind pollutions and distractions which will make the planet die faster. I suggest we think more about the world we will leave for our children and grand children and act accordingly.

Look Larry, where are they building these reservoirs? 80% of the land in the UK is used for animal agriculture. Enjoy a nice steak do you? How about a bucket of KFC? All the runoff from all these 100s of millions of animals & the pesticides on the crops to feed them has to go somewhere so it’s not a case of just building a reservoir. There’s nowhere to build them & when they try to build one 70 miles away the residents in that area petition against it because why should they have one built that isn’t going to be serving them?

Enjoy a nice barbecue do you? With all your meat products? If so you’re part of the problem of why it’s 40C today.

To be fair a lot of reservoirs these days are underground with a fairly small collection point above ground. The underground nature means the Land above can be used fir grazing snd certain crops. We do need more underground reservoir. I accept that run offs washing pesticides into rivers and other water systems is a problem and sadly occurs more commonly where there are large grain or veg crops. It’s a hard one to solve and make the crop economic though some other methods like companion planting are being trialed- even organic farming has its challenges as some of the organic manures and composts are still
Pollutants to the water system. It’s a knotty solution – but it is good we are all talking about it and discussing solutions- nice if we can do that without getting too heated though

Sure but some of us have to eat meat and those of you that don’t will have serious health conditions. Everything in moderation.

Hi,

Is there any updates on this? Is the hosepipe ban still in place or has it been lifted yet? A I have seen people now using hosepipes. Assuming it has been lifted. I currently live in Andover, Hampshire.

if the water situation in the south-southeast is so bad then why are we letting thousands of people come here for the olympic games if its as bad as they would have us believe then cancel the games

Wettest “drought” in living memory, yet still hose ban persists, and now the arrogant supplier can’t even be bothered to update this correspondence trail since two weeks ago and keep its customers appraised. I say time to end the monopoly and lobby MPs for a choice of supplier, as we enjoy for gas and electricity. These companies are too busy lining their pockets to care about customers. Let’s introduce some competition.

Hi i have a patio which my dog messes on, and have 5 young grandchildren i use to wash it down each day with jet wash and jeyes fluid can i not do this once a week now, or do i have to get rid of the dog, ground is still so bogey in Hampshire.

When will this ban end ? – as with other water companies. It costs a fortune to keep paying to have car cleaned! This morning it is covered in rain marks but they ate brown from dust. My car is black – it looks dreadful. Surely there has been enough rainfall now

An ongoing ban in certain areas is evidence of total incompetence on the part of those companies.

If they are not able to ‘tank’ the amount of recent rainfall, then they have not been doing their jobs properly and have inadequate measures in place to store water / or have become (in certain areas) too reliant on aquifers.

Either way, i would feel very embarrassed if i were running one of these companies. The words professional incompetence spring to mind.

Neil,

Is this condemnation based on any hydrological or hydrogeological knowledge or just the way you feel things out to work in nature? ‘Tanking’ rainfall as you put it sounds so easy. An over reliance on aquifers…again who would be so stupid?

Well, if you live in an area of predominantly chalk soils (much of the south) for example, you’ll find few rivers, as chalk is a very permeable surface…so aquifers are pretty much all you’ve got and work incredibly well most years. Building a reservoir on chalk is also not a simple task as, guess what, the water seeps into the ground! And the point of aquifers is that they recharge best with continued low rates of rainfall recharge (too much rain and the water won’t infiltrate into the ground or percolate through the ground as fast as it’s falling and so it runs off, often causing a degree of natural flooding – these are normal processes).

So depending on where you live, your water will be supplied by the most appropriate means and unless you want your water bill to go up ridiculously, you won’t be clamouring for desalination plants, enormous artificial reservoirs and the like, and I’d suggest we all accept an occasional hose-pipe ban when there isn’t enough rain for a prolonged period.

I agree that our bills should be reduced in line with the reduced costs (assuming there are some) of supplying less water during a hose-pipe ban, but as more houses get put on a meter, this will happen automatically anyway.

Hope this helps.

Phil, i don’t think the end user needs to be a hydrological expert to see the current ban is ludicrous and evidence of poor prior planning or bad management.

The geographical constraints you mention in the south should have been taken into consideration Phil – would it have been too hard to pipe water from one area of the country to the south and to have arrangements in place with different companies – no… but yes i expect given the way the industry is structured perhaps making this complicated and/or expensive ?? Again, poor management and bad planning and in my opinion the buck stops there.

Could i fill a bucket up and then run a pressure washer off the water in the bucket?

The pressure uses far less water than filling up 5 or 6 buckets of water to throw over a car to rinse the soap off!

If you grow your own vegetables on your own land for your own consumption can you use a hose pipe to water them? Seems a little unfair if not, especially as commercial growers are, I understand, currently exempt.

Ken, I agree with you. We also have a hosepipe ban but two miles away there isn’t one. So it can only be that a blanket ban is much easier to administer, whether it is required or not.

I am convinced that South East water are playing politics not practicalities. I am confident that once we all have water meters installed, the problem of water shortages will miraculously disappear. Unmetered water is the biggest cause of grief and hand-wringing to water companies and their shareholders.

As they are commercial companies, not government departments, it all comes down to moiney and politics, as usual. We are not customers, we are hostages.

I notice that whilst they are keen for us to save their water, they don’t mind us spending our money on their premium rate “hostage-services” telephone numbers. Another sign that money is their primary driver, not customers.

It may have been answered already but why is a hosepipe ban linked to the supplier and not the region? I am supplied water by Southern Water and less than a mile away my parents by Portsmouth Water. I have a hosepipe ban, they don’t. I just don’t believe the infrastructure is completely separate and I would place good money on the suppliers “overlapping” each other.

So that said why is it not the Adur region that has a hosepipe ban? Enforced by the Environments agency.

Unlike electricity suppliers I don’t have a choice who I get my water from, and can do nothing about them making profits instead of fixing ageing infrastructure…

Neighbour has been using his hosepipe throughout the ban & today it’s been running for 7 hrs. Can I report him as I think it’s a total waste and unfair on those of us abiding by the rules, thanks.

I used to wash my car with a pressure washer before the hosepipe ban and it took about 30 litres including the water in the wash bucket. Now it takes about 50-60 litres using buckets alone – primarily due to the inefficiency of rinsing the car by pouring water over it compared with rinsing with a high pressure low volume spray.

So I am complying with the law but clearly this is detrimental to the water supply. It’s a shame that a bit more thought wasn’t put into the restrictions/conditions in order to overcome such forced inefficiencies.

Am getting Fed up of rushing round the car to make sure my 3yr old twins don’t touch the bird poo that they’ve dive bombed all over my car, my daughters don’t understand and it’s only a question of time until they touch some and then put the hands in their mouths, so tomorrow my pressure washer is coming out and the bird poo will be going, I mean for God sake they can’t ban us from a pressure washer, I mean all our washing machines are plumbed in by hoses, so with that as long as it is a machine of some kind, then we should be sorted. Well I hope so anyway 🙂

I’ve seen your posts saying pressurewhashers are banned……… but I’m curious as to whether all Pressurewashers for non-comercial use are banned in a waterban?

Even those that can now be used with water from a water butt ie the new style Karchers that have been advertised on the television for the last few months???

Also where do people stand with being able start re-using their supply and not being prosecuted when their local waterboard lifts the ban, but their local council does not?

as a trades man i need to use a pressure washer to carry out my works which attaches to an outdoor tap does the ban effect me?

Hi, sorry if this or similar has already been asked.

Heres my sittuation I keep Marine fish and I have two water butts that I fill with water one being fresh water the other salt water though a Reverse Osmosis System.

There is no hose pipe involved but the pipping to the system is feed from a 5mm pipe from the mains supply
I have to have fresh water for top ups and salt water for water changes or I could risk losing my fish.

The waste water from the system isn’t going down the drain either thats going into a pond and keeping the water topup on that.

Is this ok to continue under the ban?

Cheers

Ian

What are the legal issues with business’s seeing as to maintain a level of service as a chauffeur and for hygiene and conforming to insurance regulations, i am required to near sterilise the inside of a horse box, where a pressure washer (proven to use less water then a hose pipe (1/5th of the water out of the same tap) ) to clean it efficiently.

So i saw the council leaving a sprinkler running ALL day and where not allowed to water our gardens, What the heck?

I am a cheese manufacturer and we use a hose pipe to wash the milk off the warehouse floor at the end of the day, is that ok? we are in hainault, ilford.

Hi, We are a buisness and have spent £300.00 on flowers for our Petrol Forecourt, as a business can we use a hose pipe to water them?

Im a commercial gardener, but I work on domestic property’s, I have recently installed lawns, overseeded areas, and installed beds, does this mean I can utilise the hoses on their gardens? As of I can’t I can lose revenue from having to refuse work, and incur compensation claims against me for loss of plants and lawns through lack of water, are south east water prepared to compensate me for my losses? I pay my rates.my customers pay their rates, yet pipes are always leaking and the costs are always going up, how am
I to pay when I’m losing money through the faults of my suppliers! You can blame mother nature all you like, but if the correct infrastructure was in place, we wouldn’t be where we all are now, please get back to me as my bank balance is looking scarier by the minute!!

Hi
Is it allowed for Horse Polo Clubs to water their pitches with “pumps” for hours on end (like the farmers use in their fields)? Why are they allowed to water grass pitches, is it because of the danger to polo horses breaking their legs? They were at it again this morning! If so, can I hose my dogs down? They are becoming a health hazard with the smell! Freda

Everyone in our area is still using hosepipes, within the South East region.
General opinion is we pay our bills, we don’t get a reduction during a ban.
As far as I am concern, until they actually write to their customers in person, which they have not don’t yet, I don’t formally know about it!.
Oh and thanks for fixing the leak last year, which left water running down the road, yes only took 3 weeks to even come and have a look. Oh and thanks for all the mud and stones that blocked up my taps when you did finally get round to it.
Off to water my flowers, happy days….

The builders on the building estate near West Ruislip station (London Borough of Hillingdon) are using a sprinkler on the lawn area outside the houses they’re finishing off. It’s just to prettify the area to sell the houses – but does it count as ‘commercial gardening’ and is it therefore exempt from the ban?
(I’ve no idea which water area they’re in!)

I also need a knee replacement and its a long way from the outside tap to the rest of garden, but nearer from a water buut……………..

Can l fill water butts up wiith hosepipe and water garden from butt with watering cans – l have a large garden ?

NOW THAT THE RAINFALL HAS BEEN MORE THAN ADEQUATE, WHEN CAN WE EXPECT THE HOSE PIPE BAN TO BE LIFTED.
WE NEED TO CLEAN OUR CARS AND PATIO AND WATERING OF NEW PLANTS IS ESSENTIAL.
HOPE THAT THE BAN IS LIFTED AT ITS EARLIEST

Hose, no need to answer… further reading explained but it still doesn’t say about private companies.. Does this mean the government has a hand in all these water companies by being able to pass an act in Parliment to make it law?

The original laws pre-date privatised water companies. Government now allows them to act on these (updated) laws within strict guidelines.

Hose, Please can you answer Joe’s question of Can you tell me what LAW people are breaking that is resulting in fines from a private corporation¦? for all to see and perhaps challenge.

Section 76 of the 1991 Water Industry Act.
The Water Use (Temporary Bans) Order 2010